Climate Week 2020

Hey #YugenCommunity and welcome to another week filled with interesting and interactive topics for discussion on our Forum :)

Yesterday marked the beginning of #ClimateWeek2020 in New York City which will be the biggest climate summit taking place this year. This event is being hosted by a large non-profit international organization called the Climate Group, who’s main goal is to create a world of net zero carbon emissions by 2050 by driving climate action and awareness through their various platforms and hosting of events.

This year, in the midst of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the focus of the summit will be on rebuilding post-Covid-19 and the lessons that one can learn in the pursuit of a net-zero future. The event is categorized into 10 themes but the themes that I found to be relevant to us in the Caribbean are: Food and Land Use, Sustainable Travel and Tourism and US and International Policy.

Now you may be wondering how the US and International Policy is applicable to us here in the Caribbean and I’ll give you a brief understanding of why 😊.

The US is one of the major emitters of greenhouse gases on the planet and, under the Obama administration, The US signed on to the Paris Agreement in 2015, agreeing to cut down their country’s emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by the year 2025.

However, under the current administration, President Trump has indicated that he will withdraw the US from the Climate agreement which he will be able to officially do on November 4th, 2020, if he is re-elected into office for a second term. If he is re-elected, his formal withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and his policies could further contribute to an increase in international GHG emissions which already began during his tenure as he aggressively supported the use of fossil fuels, weakened regulations that were meant to encourage companies and industries towards using cleaner sources of energy and expanded the opportunities for drilling and mining, just to name a few.

How does this affect us in the Caribbean? Well, once the US formally withdraws from the Paris Agreement, they would no longer be bound by that treaty to reduce GHG and therefore, will not be sanctioned for their practices that further destroy the planet. Unfortunately, the Caribbean and other small islands alike, will feel the negative effects of such practices the hardest as we are most vulnerable to the ripple effects of rising global temperatures and GHG such as the increasing level of the sea and more severe hurricanes and droughts which will affect our supply of potable water, agriculture, the tourism industry and so many other sectors.

I could go on and on about the impact this will have on us in the future but we’d save that for another post 😄. So I’d like to hear from you.

-What have you done to reduce your GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions?

-If you haven’t already, what do you plan on doing to reduce your contribution to global warming?

-Do you think that we can meet the 2050 target of having net zero carbon emissions?

-Daniella K